


Tidal Jupiter

by InkyWandmaker



Series: Jupiter Years [3]
Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, M/M, More characters to be added, More tags to be added, Soulmate AU, literally scene by scene of MGS2, mgs2, soulmate identifying marks, tanker incident
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-03-29 19:22:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13933644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkyWandmaker/pseuds/InkyWandmaker
Summary: Snake watched the helicopters fly out of sight, his eyes narrowing. This was...this wasn’t right. Hal hacked the files out of the Pentagon and they only found out about it less than a week ago. An operation of this size? This would have had to been planned weeks in advance.How did the Russians know before Philanthropy did?





	1. TANKER- INFILTRATION

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry the update schedule is gonna get a bit wonky because the boyfriend can’t wait to play MGS2 any longer so here is the tentative plan:  
> While he plays MGS2 I’ll write Tidal Jupiter and in the off times I’ll pick at Thawing. When he is done with MGS2 and moves on to MGS3 I will finish Thawing and start on Growing and then post-MGS2’s fic Sunny. Thanks for sticking with me and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

David sat in his undergarments on the edge of what passed as furniture in their current shitty apartment, lazily smoking a cigarette and absently stroking the ear of his wolf-hound Kira while his partner bustled around. Hal was anxious- more so than usual- but then again it had been months since they had gotten such a promising lead and the scientist always got keyed up during missions. Dave’s eyes followed Hal, setting his cigarette down in the ashtray and tracking his movements. When his soulmate rushed past, an box tucked under one arm, he reached out and caught his wrist.

“Babe,” Dave quirked his lips in the barest hint of a smile. “Slow down a second.”

Hal sighed dramatically but allowed himself to be guided over to their ripped up futon, dropping the box and startling Kira. Hal apologized watching their dog leave the room in a huff before gingerly taking a seat beside his lover. “Dave, there’s so much to do and...” He chewed his lip, a profound nervousness leaking into their empathetic link.

“Hey, it’ll be alright.” Dave soothed, curling an arm around Hal’s shoulders. “I’m supposed to what- go in, take a few pictures, then leave? Piece of cake.”

Hal wrung his hands together. “Y-yeah... right. Of course- of course you’re right.” He glanced over across the room to their shared mattress, Dave’s cobbled together sneaking suit laid out piece by piece on the sheets. “You should get suited up.”

Dave hummed thoughtfully, his hands finagling the scrawny nerd beside him onto his lap so he could wrap him in an embrace, pressing his face into his lover’s neck. “In a minute,” he murmured, his stubble prickly against Hal’s skin.

“Dave...” Hal made a half hearted attempt to protest but relented easily, turning to wrap his skinny arms around Dave’s neck. They sat quietly for a minute or two, Hal’s anxiety slowly evening out into something more manageable as David rubbed slow rhythmic circles on his back. Eventually Hal sighed and sat back a bit, his breath no longer edging on hyperventilation.

“Better?” Dave asked, his forehead pressed against Hal’s.

“Yeah,” the scientist checked his watch and winced. “Ok, now we _really_ need to get you suited up.”

Hal slid off Dave’s lap and with a grumpy sigh Dave shuffled over to pull on his sneaking suit. The first layer was the same as it was for Shadow Moses, the tight fitting grey bodysuit having long since been washed and repaired so it could be used for later missions. Dave frowned as the second layer- some kind of strange black wrap- was laced on by Hal.

“Why am I wearing a corset again?” He groused.

“It’s not a corset, it’s an ultra light, bullet resistant, flexible compression brace for your chest and stomach. If you’re shot there it’ll greatly reduce the velocity of the bullet lowering the chance of a fatal injury.” Hal pulled the laces tighter and Dave grumbled.

“So a fucking battle corset. Great.”

Hal rolled his eyes and started helping Dave with the various canvas straps that hung across his body that would hold his weapons, ammo, and gear. The knee and elbow braces were next followed by the rubber soled boots and finally Dave’s signature bandana. Hal chewed his lip, watching nervously as the soldier tucked away the last of his equipment. Dave looked up and offered a tentative thumbs up signifying he was ready to go.

Hal rushed forward and delivered a final crushing hug that was easily returned.

“Hey,” Dave soothed, doing his best to return his soulmate’s embrace without bruising him with the equipment he’d just pulled on. “What’s up with you? You’re normally not this jumpy before a mission.”

“I...” Hal inhaled slowly, his fingers curling around the canvas strap stretching across Dave’s back. “Just be careful. This is a military vessel, there’s going to be a lot of personnel on board.”

“Well I guess I’ll just have to be stealthy. I’m good at that.”

Hal started at the word ‘stealthy’ and he rushed over to his desk, squatting down to ruffle Kira’s ears before rummaging around in his desk drawers until he found what he was looking for. Dave watched as his lover ran back over to pin his trusty Stealth Camo on his left hand chest strap. “There,” Hal declared, nodding resolutely. “I think you’re ready.”

Dave nodded and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and compartmentalizing his thoughts and feelings, centering himself, and beginning the transformation from David to Snake.

Solid Snake opened his eyes and fixed Otacon with a piercing look.

“What’s the insertion method?”

—:—

Snake adjusted the hood of his black rain poncho and lit a cigarette, watching as his partner’s black SUV disappeared into the traffic. He turned and slowly began walking in the opposite direction, his boots splashing along the narrow pedestrian walkway of the George Washington Bridge. Beneath him, the swollen Hudson was threatening to burst its banks- the rain had been falling relentlessly for days now.

Snake continued on slowly, ignoring the seemingly endless stream of cars passing him by. His cigarette burned down and he plucked it out of his mouth, exhaling slowly and tossing the butt onto the roadway beside him. He glanced out down the river, watching as the targeted vessel approached the infiltration point.

Snake walked faster.

And faster.

Then, in an instant the poncho was flown off into the storm and the stealth camo was activated, the owner just seeming to disappear. Snake broke into a run and readied the bungee cable that had been clipped onto his vest. He was approaching the anchor point...

There.

As Snake ran past he clipped the bungee onto the specific strut Otacon had indicated, running forward another several yards before vaulting over the guard rail.

Snake was in freefall, the bungee cord spooling out behind him as the ship approached right on schedule. The line tightened and Snake went from falling head first to being nearly vertical, his descent slowing dramatically.

He landed hard on the deck of the ship in a crouch, the stealth camo sparking in protest of the water and the G-forces it took during the fall. The camo flickered once, then twice, then it stopped working all together.

Snake swore under his breath and ditched the cable, sprinting for some cover behind some boxes. He crouched low and dialed his Codec to 141.12- a frequency that came as easily to him as breathing. It rang twice before it connected.

“This is Snake. Otacon, do you read me?”

“Loud and clear Snake.” Otacon replied, the barest hint of tension in his voice.

“Kept you waiting huh?” Snake’s lip twitched slightly. “I’m at the ‘sneak point.’”

“Everything’s going okay?”

Snake grumbled. “Stealth Camo’s busted. Landing impact.”

“Mmm, must have overused it. Sorry, you’re just gonna have to deal with it.” A pause. Glasses adjustment. Snake had lived with Otacon for so long that he could see in his minds eye exactly what Otacon’s little pauses and quirks in conversation looked like. “You’re not in the military anymore Snake.”

“I wasn’t planning on relying on this gadget anyway.”

“Private sector’s not so bad, is it? Privacy’s guaranteed...”

Snake huffed. “I’m happy as long as nobody gives me anymore ‘unwanted gifts.’” He was bitter just thinking about the whole Shadow Moses fiasco with FoxDie.

“You mean that thing with Naomi?” Otacon clarified.

“And I can’t say I missed the Chattering Nanny,” Snake grumbled, half joking.

“Oh Mei Ling’s not so bad- that reminds me, I have to get in touch with her again about that new Natik flashware...”

Otacon trailed off and Snake knew he was jotting a memo down on a sticky note, pressing it against the edge of his laptop. “Diverting toys from the SSCEN again? Send her a message from me: Someone will find out sooner or later. She’s better off assuming it’s sooner and quit while she’s safe.”

“Too true... Alright Snake, lets get to work.” Otacon clacked away at his keyboard. “You know how the technical specs of Metal Gear were sold on the black market after Shadow Moses?”

“Yeah, we can thank Ocelot for that...”

A hum of agreement. “Exactly. Now every state, group, and agency has its own version of Metal Gear.”

“Not exactly a ‘top secret weapon for today’s nuclear powers’ anymore is it?” Snake sneered.

“This new one seems to have been designed to wipe the floor with the other models. The only consistent discription is that it’s an amphibious, anti-Metal Gear vehicle...”

“-explaining why this one is under Marine Corps jurisdiction. Gotcha.”

Otacon sighed. “The mission objective is to make visual confirmation of the new Metal Gear being transported by that tanker and bring back photographic evidence. But first I’d like you to go up to the top level of the infrastructure to the bridge. We need to find out where the tanker is headed.”

“A little recon huh?”

“There’s too much we don’t know about this new Metal Gear,” Otacon wiped at his eyes. “Capabilities, deployment method- we don’t even know how close it is to completion. If we know where the testing arena is, I can start to draw some reasonable conclusions.”

“Alright, I’ll head up to the bridge ASAP.”

“Try to avoid confrontations,” Otacon needlessly reminded. “Our goal is to collect evidence on Metal Gear development and expose it to the world. It would be best if you could get out of there without alerting anyone.”

“Don’t worry, I know the drill- were not terrorists.”

“Very good. Don’t forget that you’re part of Philanthropy now- we’re an anti-Metal Gear NGO and officially recognized by the UN.” Hal reminded, pride seeping into his voice.

Snake’s lips twitched slightly. Hal’s birthday was later that month and he had arranged a small surprise for him. Philanthropy was his brain child- the culmination of countless hours slaving away to make the dream a reality and he deserved to finally have a concrete symbol for their growing organization.

“Recognized but still fringe Otacon,” Snake retorted, loading up his M9 tranquilizer pistol. Right now only he and Hal were official members but Meryl, Nastasha, and Mei Ling has all helped out at one point or another. In fact, it was Mei Ling who had helped Snake put his ideas for the logo to paper.

He fished out his cigarettes and lighter, flicking the flint wheel several times in an attempt to get it to light in the rain. Finally, just as the flame caught Otacon- who had been typing on his computer- was back.

“You aren’t smoking right now are you?” He snapped, his voice accusatory and unimpressed. Ever since he had sat down and added up just how much Snake spent on cigarettes per month he had been hounding him to quit with mixed results. “C’mon- those things will kill ya!”

“They’re kinda a lucky charm,” Snake muttered around his cigarette, his thumb flicking at the flint wheel again. Otacon huffed and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘yeah, lucky until they give you lung cancer that is...’ and Snake sighed, tucking the unlit cigarette and lighter away. “Alright fine. Fine. This camera you gave me- it’s the same as the old one yeah?”

“Mmhm. Just point and shoot.” 

Snake nodded and pulled out his binoculars, scoping out the security he’d be dealing with. “They don’t look armed...” he mumbled absentmindedly.

“Hey- Earth to Snake! These are nice upstanding Marines, not terrorists. Don’t get caught, you’re in stealth mode here.”

“Sure and if it comes to that a little beauty sleep never hurt anyone.” Snake counted the personal on patrol and frowned, an unpleasant thought crossing his mind. “By the way, Otacon, are you sure of this intelligence?”

“Absolutely, I hacked it from the Pentagon’s classified files myself.”

“No traces?”

“Oh please,” a rare moment of confidence, “I’m too good for that.”

“But this might be a trap,” Snake retorted. “Remember, there’s a price on our heads.”

“You’re just being paranoid,” Otacon soothed. Snake took a breath and refocused his binoculars. Hal was probably right it’s just... in his experience it was always better to prepare for the worst when going in blind.

“I hope you’re right,” Snake grumbled, zooming in on one of the guards patrolling the deck in his reflective rain coat. “These men, you wouldn’t think they were anything but civilians from here.”

“With all the ships passing on the river and in the harbor, putting uniformed Marines on deck would be a bad idea. People can get a clear view of the water from river side too.”

“The waterline is too high,” Snake remarked as he looked over the railing. “According to the navigational plans this ship should have discharged its cargo upriver.”

“It’s in there,” Otacon stated, confident. “No doubt about it.”

“The military trains you to watch for threats from the stern of the boat- that’s SOP for counter-terror ops too. Security should be tighter.”

“You worry too much,” Otacon teased. Snake slowly lowered his binoculars.

“Where’s the target?”

“Mmm, with advances in satellite surveillance I’d say it’s probably being stored in the cargo holds below deck.” Otacon pulled up some footage of the ship, zooming in on a nearby doorway. “Hey Snake, do you see see the entrance to the holds?”

Snake peeked out from around his hiding spot, making notes of all the nearby doors. “Yeah looks like there are a few entryways into the crew quarters.”

Overhead the aircraft that had been lurking around the ship finally passed over the deck and Otacon frowned. “A ‘chopper?”

Snake had planned on looking up and trying to follow the helicopter but he never got the chance. He heard a sound that wasn’t what he had come to expect from the nearby guard and he whirled around, his body tensing. He squinting out into the rain, watching from a distance as a shadowy figure snuck up behind the unsuspecting marine and slit his throat, the blood gushing out. Another guard, seeing his comrade drop to the ground started over to investigate but he didn’t get that far, another enemy soldier had grabbed him and taken him out with the same deadly proficiency Snake knew could only be obtained through years of practice. Snake quickly trained his binoculars on another guard, watching as one by one they fell. “Looks like we’re not the only one’s after Metal Gear tonight,” Snake mumbled to Otacon, his senses on high alert.

“Snake was that a helicopter I just heard?” Otacon’s voice was tight with the beginning of worry.

“Affirmative. Probably another cavalry...” Snake started counting the new mercenaries, frowning as their numbers grew seemingly by the second. “What’s their game? Hijack? Otacon, how many men do you need to take over a tanker of this size?”

“The ship is run by a computer so...” Snake could almost see him making a few quick calculations, the pause only lasting a second, “I’d say about eighteen people.”

Well whoever these men were they had obviously come incredibly well prepared. Not only were their numbers easily greater than the bare minimum needed to crew this ship but they were armed to the teeth too. Snake zoomed in on their guns. “AKS-74u?” Snake panned over and caught sight of someone dressed differently than the others- their leader. He focused in and took in their uniforms- the clothes, the haircuts, the weapons- they were all decidedly not American and when Snake read their lips his determined that whatever they were speaking had to be some kind of Slavic dialect. “Russians?”

“Are you sure?” Otacon shot back, his fingers flying across his keyboard as he tried to identify the hijackers on his end.

“No marine barber touched that head of hair,” Snake grumbled, activating the scope feature on his binoculars, zooming in on the man and snapping his picture. “I’m transmitting a photo, let’s get an ID on him ASAP.”

There was a small chime in Otacon’s laptop as the picture was received. “I’m on it.”

Snake evaluated the deck, adjusting his plan to account for the power shift that had just occurred. “Looks like the Tanker is theirs now...” The helicopter made another round overhead and Snake listened carefully. “That’s a KA-60. Kasatka.”

“Kasatka? Kamov chopper, right? The ‘Killer Whale.’”

Snake scowled. He hated it when he didn’t know who he was dealing with. “We need to get a fix on who they are.”

“Judging by their transport aren’t they some kind of military commandos?” Otacon speculated, adjusting his glasses.

“Not necessarily. It could be the KA-62, the civil model.”

Otacon sighed and wiped at his eyes. “Look, Snake, all we need is the photographic evidence of Metal Gear. As long as we have those we can put it online and blow this whole thing wide open so no pyrotechnics okay?”

“Alright,” Snake grumbled, irritated. He didn’t _want_ to fight his way through problems but sometimes that was the only option. “I’ll do my best.”

“This isn’t like Shadow Moses,” Otacon reminded softly, a small surge of kind concern and reassurance flowing through their empathetic link. Hal knew just how heavy these past missions weighed on Snake and he endeavored to never put him through the same crap if he could help it. He did his best to give Snake as many options as possible- fashioning him a tranquilizer pistol from a handgun with what limited resources he had available to him and giving him a say in what missions they did and did not take. “Call me if you need to, the frequency is-“

“-141.12, Yeah I know.” Snake appreciated his partner’s attempts at reassurance and his sometimes overbearing coddling. As much as he pretended to be irritated, Snake could never truly get tired of having someone backing him up who actually _cared_ about his well-being. Someone who _loved_ him.

“I’ll be waiting just past the Verrazano Bridge. You need to be off that ship by then.”

“I’ll be in touch,” Snake replied with a small smirk, ending the call.

Snake cracked his knuckles, then his neck. Mission time.

The scene on deck was eerily similar to how everything had been five minutes ago. The hijacking had been almost surgical in nature, replacing the Marines with Russian mercenaries like how one might swap out a battery. Snake looked up and aimed his M9 at the patrolling guard above, firing once and watching the man drop. Now clear Snake shuffled across the deck, keeping low and wearily checking his surroundings. He got to the corner and peeked around.

Another guard was patrolling by the stairs, his boots swishing through the rain quietly and Snake snuck up behind him, firing a single dart right into his neck. The man swayed and then hit the wet deck with a splash. Quickly, Snake grabbed his legs and dragged him out of sight and under the stairs, stealing his ration on the way. As soon as he was satisfied that no one would stumble across the man, he took the stairs two at a time, climbing the slick metal steps as fast as possible.

The door Otacon had mentioned over the Codec was a heavy steel airlock that had to be cranked open- great for a shit but terrible for stealth. Snake spun the wheel as fast as he could, slipping inside and shaking the water off before checking his Soliton immediately.

One guard on patrol, one locker room. Snake’s lips twitched as he shot a dart into the Russian man’s neck and picked his body up, dragging him into the break room and shoving him in a locker with a tacky poster of a pinup girl on the inside.

Snake continued on, the halls narrow and utilitarian, the steel a dull grey and the lights cheap fluorescents. Typical military vessel.

The next hallway had a sign reading ‘DECK A: SB. CREW QUARTERS’ above its entrance and immediately Snake knew that there were more guards lurking around. He peeked around the corner in just enough time to watch one disappear into a central sitting area while another one stride down the hall purposefully. Snake ducked back around and waited from his chance, his hands tight on the M9.

The man who had gone into the lounge was coming back and Snake pointed his gun down the end of the hall just as the second guard was facing away from him. One dart- guy in the hall went down. Two darts- other guy joined him on the floor. Snake strode down the hall quickly and ducked into the lounge, looking around.

The sitting area must have been for the officers because no way did the military spend this much on their grunts. There was a fully stocked bar and cushy leather chairs and a flat screen tv mounted on the wall. Snake moved over to investigate the image it was displaying further.

For such a high definition television the feed was pretty grainy- security footage? Every few seconds the screen would flicker and the image would shift to a new angle. As Snake watched the makeshift real-time slide show he slowly brought his hand up to his ear, dialing Otacon.

“Otacon, I think I’m looking at the cargo hold right now.”

“What?” Hal leaned forward and shuffled some papers. “How can you-?”

“It’s on the tv in the captains lounge. It’s showing th-“

“The new Metal Gear...” Otacon trailed off, his voice slightly breathy. 

“Why are they broadcasting this?” Snake prompted, trying to prevent Hal from spacing out.

“Oh! Um they probably want to keep a record of this exercise- and maybe give a little presentation?” Hal adjusted his glasses. “Now that I’m looking for it that ship has been transmitting a live video uplink feed via military satellite uplink for a while now.”

“So there’s some brass out there smacking their lips over this little home movie.” Great. Do they ever learn?

“I’ve been trying to pinpoint the receiving location but I haven’t had much luck.” Faint clacking at the keyboard, Hal’s slender fingers dancing across the black plastic with the same ease and familiarity that Snake had with a gun. “There’s a huge firewall in the way but I’ll keep trying.”

“Wherever it is,” Snake grumbled trying to shake off more of the freezing water that was clinging to him. “I’ll bet it’s a warm dry office with hot coffee on tap.”

“Far cry from that tanker huh?” Otacon agreed, voice gentle and Snake felt a warm tingle of sympathy crawl over him. “That’s what happens when the battlefield has a Revolution in Military Affairs.”

Snake smiled and ended the call, turning and running past the sleeping guards to climb the grand stairs. At the landing he went left, pressing up against the wall and peeking around the corner.

Clear.

He proceeded forward slowly, crouched low and gun at the ready. The Soliton said there was another guard around the next corner. Snake waited for him to turn before shooting a tranquilizer dart into his back. The soldier fell over, hitting his face hard and Snake walked around him toward the stairwell at the end of the hall leading up towards the Port side crew quarters.

The hallways were spartan and all the doors were closed and unoccupied. Snake ran past, pressing up against the wall to sneak past the lone security camera. The next stairwell led to Deck D and the sight that Snake walked in on was not pretty.

The place was heavily guarded by the Russian hijackers and several Marines has been shit dead, their bodies slumped over and bleeding out onto the cafeteria tables. Snake made note of the cameras and took a deep breath and just watched.

There was a brief moment- maybe two seconds long- where the path Snake needed to take was clear. The window was short but possible and, crouching low, Snake darted across the cafeteria and up the next staircase to the control room.

The place was eerily quiet, the men in charge shot and slumped over the many panels and desks. Snake gingerly entered, his gun at his side and his boots quiet, careful not to tread on the dead. He made his way to the glass and looked out, frowning as the helicopter approached, and crossed overhead. The side read KA-60. Snake made sure his monitor was on.

“It’s a Kasatka,” he mumbled. “Russians.”

A line unspooled from the helicopter and soldier after soldier slid down it, storming across deck and quickly overwhelming it. Snake watched the helicopters fly out of sight, his eyes narrowing. This was...this wasn’t right. Hal hacked the files out of the Pentagon and they only found out about it less than a week ago. An operation of this size? This would have had to been planned weeks in advance.

How did the Russians know before Philanthropy did?

Snake glanced down at the control panel, eyes scanning over the digital readout a and instrumentation. There- the coordinates. He called Hal.

“Snake, did you find out where that ship is headed?”

“Yeah I’m looking at it now- 32 degrees longitude, latitude around 58.”

A few clicks. “More than 500 miles off the coast of the Bermudas, out in the middle of the Atlantic.” Hal sighed and wiped at his eyes. “So the prototype is ready for solo testing- it’s practically combat worthy. That place is outside the secondary fleet’s operational range too.” His voice was becoming more and more tight, the pitch raising minutely. “It must be a stand alone Marine Corps project- which means this prototype Metal Gear must be designed for independent deployment without any Naval assistance an-“

“Otacon. Calm down.” Snake interrupted, his voice hard and commanding but not unkind. “We can analyze that later. What do you need me to do now?”

Hal took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, the steady stream of panic and anxiety that had been creeping up Snake’s empathetic link dying down. “Okay. Snake, you need to go down to the holds and locate the actual Metal-huh? Snake, what was that?“

Outside there was a loud clang as someone landed on the catwalk just outside. Snake snapped his head over and watched a strong and slender woman walk slowly in the opposite direction of the control room. She appeared to be in the phone. “A woman, don’t worry about it.”

“Hmm, okay.” Hal cleared his throat and Snake tilted his head minutely. This was new. “Snake, you’re of course familiar with the phrase ‘all for one and one for all’?”

“What is this all of a sudden?” Snake asked, his eyes narrowed and voice confused.

“Oh I figured you’d need a lot of motivation so I came prepared,” Otacon shuffled some papers. “It’s from The Three Musketeers- the book not the candy bar. It means that if you go up against everyone by yourself, they’ll gang up on you too. I think. Since you’re in that ship alone you’ll need to take this to heart.” A pause. “How was that? Just like old times?”

Snake sighed. He _really_ needed to talk to Mei Ling about her and Otacon’s little book club. “Otacon?”

“Yeah?”

“Keep your day job babe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Hopefully it won’t be too long between updates so check back often. Your feedback fuels my creative fire so don’t forget to leave a comment or kudo before you go~! They really mean a lot to me.
> 
> Also special shoutout to Koob who lets me scream at her about MGS and shitty word processors and instead of blocking me she gives me beautiful sketches that make me cry. New icon is one of said sketches! :)


	2. TANKER- OLGA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait guys! Was having a major case of writers block on this one so I decided to forcus on Thawing for a bit but now Thawing is in a pretty good place so I’m ready to focus on this one now. Thanks for being patient with me, you guys are the best.
> 
> Enjoy~
> 
> —:—

Snake ended the call with Otacon and slipped outside into the rain after the woman. She was young, maybe in her early 20s, with platinum blonde hair and a heavy Russian accent. Snake crouched behind some crates and listened carefully, the woman’s conversation was loud and gradually getting more heated.

“Shalashaska has landed, I’m heading down to the tanker holds- report your status!” A masculine Russian voice crackled through the woman’s radio.

“Control room, communications, and engine room are under our control. All entry and exit points to the tanker hold are secured. Infrared sensors placed and operational.”

“Good work, are the explosives in place?”

“Yes they are all planted,” the woman replied, getting testy.

“Listen, once we have what we came for the tanker will be scuttled.”

“And the vehicle’s pilot?”

“He’s the only one who underwent the VR training. No one else can do it.” The woman turned and Snake moved locations, getting closer.

“Are you sure you can trust him?”

“Your part in this mission is complete, you are to leave at once!” The man ordered, the woman gritted her teeth, cutting the air in front of her angrily.

“No! It’s not over yet!”

“I can see the moon, even in this storm- pale as death! I have a bad feeling about this mission. You swore this to me- that you would leave the unit once the mission was complete!” His voice softened a little, “do not worry, this is a country of liberty.”

“No!” The young woman was pacing around again, angry. “This is where I belong- with this unit! I have nowhere else to go.” Holding the radio in one hand she pulled a gun out of a holster with the other, turning it over thoughtfully. “I want to stay and fight.”

“There is no choice to make here, Olga!” the man barked, stubborn. “Need I remind you that you are carrying my _grandchild_?”

Snake froze, frowning. This woman- Olga- she was pregnant and that complicated things should he have to fight her. Would his tranquilizer rounds be harmful to the baby? Snake frowned and narrowed his eyes, contemplative. Why did he care? She was out in the field while pregnant, fighting and death were an occupational hazard. Had this been Shadow Moses he wouldn’t have even hesitated to take her out- by any means necessary- but now...

Now he found himself hoping that her father would convince her otherwise, that she would just _leave_. Snake shook it off and tuned back in to the woman’s conversation.

“You will be on that helicopter out of here! Now!” The man ordered before hanging up. The woman stared at her radio for a moment, body tense with irritation.

“Damn it!” She sighed, dropping her hand to her side while her supposed ride off the tanker came down to hover beside the boat.

Come on, just get on...

Olga swiped her hand through the air a few times at the pilot of the helicopter- a go on without me- and reluctantly it flew away. Snake silently cursed as the rain beat down on his shoulders and a chill crept up his spine that had nothing to do with the rain and everything to do with the idea of fighting a pregnant woman.

He inhaled and the moment the helicopter was out of sight he rushed over, pointing his tranquilizer gun at the Russian woman. “Freeze!” he ordered.

Slowly she turned, her gun in one hand and face stoic.

“Hands over your head! Now!”

She raised her arms as instructed but Snake didn’t let her supposed obedience fool him. She was a solider, just like he was, and she had to be calculating her moves accordingly. “Toss your gun overboard- _slowly_!”

Once she was no longer holding a gun Snake crept around to face her but frowned when all he saw was the brim of her hat, her head bowed low. “Who are you?- Show me your face!”

She chuckled, raising her head and removing her hat. She was very pale, very beautiful, and had incredibly short hair that was the color of the sun- a gold so brilliant it was nearly white. “You men are all the same.” A sigh. “We are nomads. Wanderers.” The fierce wind stole her hat from her hand and tossed it overboard and Olga attempted to step away from the railing. Snake tightened his hold on his gun and glowered.

“I said Don’t Move.”

“Americans...so you shoot women too?” She mocked, amused.

Snake snorted. American? He had no country- not anymore. “I’m a nomad too,” he replied as Olga gave him a disbelieving smirk. Snake glanced over her body, looking for other weapons. “What else do you have there?” he saw a knife on her belt and nodded towards it. “Take that knife and toss it.”

With a small smile on her lips Olga reached down and unsheathed her knife. She made to set it down on the deck and Snake scowled. “Not there. Toss it overboard.” She straightened back up, amused. “Hold that position. Now, turn around.”

“You know what you’re doing.” The ship listed to the side and some machinery groaned. They both glanced over to see if they were in danger from and of the loose equipment. Snake’s eyes licked back in to Olga. To get distracted would be a grave error. She looked skyward. “It’s stopped raining...” Snake watched as she made eye contact, “It’s not too shabby is it? New York I mean.”

In an instant she flipped her knife, pointing the handle at Snake and he dodged to the left behind some crates as the hidden bullet flew harmlessly past his cheek. Olga sprinted for cover. The knife clattered to the dock as she rearmed herself with a gun from a crate, taunting. “And that brings our tour to its conclusion!”

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Did she honestly think that she had made her mark? “A scout knife with a surprise- are you a Spetsnaz?”

She peeked out from behind her cover, eyes narrowed in irritation. “I think you deserve a little credit, no one’s ever dodged that shot of mine before.” First time for everything lady. “But no one gets lucky twice either.”

Snake scowled. Luck? What the hell was Luck? He had been through countless battles and never once had be gotten through it with anything other than skill- he made his own luck.

Olga fired off a few rounds, the bullets pinging against the metal crates uselessly as Snake stuck low to the ground. She retreated to the corner and said something that Snake couldn’t hear over the wind and rain but sounded like a brag about her experience. He peeked our from behind his cover and let her see him before dashing away and firing off two darts into her shoulder. She swayed slightly and shook it off.

Olga took cover and pulled the darts out from her skin while Snake took the opportunity to change locations. The best way to win in a fight like this was to remain hidden. If they didn’t know where you were they couldn’t hit you. From the left most crates Snake could see just a tiny bit of Olga’s body and he sunk a dart into her ribs.

It was a tedious game of hide and shoot and the woman knew what she was doing. She took cover and was an excellent shot, almost managing to hit him at least twice, but Snake was still better- more experienced.

With one final dart she swayed and fell to the deck, asleep. Snake crept forward from behind his cover to investigate. He twisted the gun out of her hands and tossed it overboard. Then, he patted her down looking for more hidden weapons. None. A faint whirring made Snake snap his head upward, squinting through the dark and rain. A drone, white-silver with a mounted camera was flying away. Snake raised Olga’s gun and fired twice but the fucking thing was already out of range.

Damn it.

Snake dialed Otacon’s number and was patched through immediately. “Otacon,” Snake began, glaring at the stormy skies, “the ship appears to be under their control. The men have Russian gear, but I haven’t been able to find out anything else about their origin.”

“I know who they are,” Otacon replied gravely. “We’ve ID’d the old man. Sergei Gurlukovich.”

“Gurlukovich? One of Ocelot’s allies?”

“Yeah the GRU Colonel. He was the one Ocelot was supposed to meet up with after Shadow Moses.”

“They’re after Metal Gear.”

“Everything’s changed,” Otacon sighed heavily. “This is not going to be as simple as we thought.”

Snake huffed. It never was. “You could say that. I just saw a surveillance remote just now, it looked like a Cypher.”

“Marines?”

“No. Army.”

Snake could feel a faint tingle of apprehension come from Otacon all the way from where he was holed up in the back of a van on the banks. “First the Marines, then the Russians, now the Army?”

“You’re right, this isn’t going to be simple.” Snake moved to end the call but something stopped him- Otacon was hesitating, getting ready to say something. “...Yes?” he prompted gently. Otacon took a big breath.

“Snake, there’s something I have to tell you.”

Snake scowled. This did _not_ sound good. “What?”

“We didn’t dig up this info- about the new Metal Gear- not on our own like usual.”

Snake sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “How did you find out then?”

“It was a tip. An anonymous tip.”

“Anonymous? You’ve never trusted those, why start now?” Snake admonished, irritated but not mad. Hal must have looked into it first to see if it was authentic, he _must_ have checked his sources first and determined they were reliable right?

Right?

“I ah... I have a younger sister. A stepsister. We have different parents...I only knew her for two years.”

Snake frowned. “You’ve never mentioned her before.” Hal didn’t say anything and Snake prompted him on with a “So...?” 

“The sender of the tip was EE.”

“EE?”

“Her name is Emma but I always called her EE.”

“Emma Emmerich?” Snake asked with a grimace. This was not looking great.

“Yeah it just caught my eye you know? I mean I figured it was just a coincidence but...I couldn’t get it out of my head. There’s really no one out there who knows about her...”

“When was the last time you saw her?” Snake asked, fighting to keep his voice steady and calm.

“...over ten years ago,” Hal reluctantly replied.

Snake sighed, his stomach a little queasy. This was not a great situation. “You think it’s a trap? To lure us out here?”

“I don’t know. After I got the tip I did break into the Pentagon’s system to get confirmation.”

Snake took a calming breath. Ok. It was ok. He could trust Hal. “...Okay.”

“Watch your back, Snake. Maybe I screwed up.”

Snake could feel Otacon’s worry as clearly as he could feel the slap of the rain on his skin. “I got a light equipped USP; I can take them now.” Snake soothed. “It’s low on ammo but it takes a 9mm, just like the Marines’ M9. I’ll find those somewhere around here.”

“Don’t raise too much of a racket with that thing,” Otacon warned.

“Yeah yeah, I hear you,” Snake grumbled as he hung up and tucked the gun away. He would greatly prefer not using it but it was still good to have as a backup just in case.

Snake dragged Olga over to the side away from the rail so she wouldn’t accidentally fall overboard and wasn’t in direct sight from the patrolling soldiers. After she was secured he went up some stairs and climbed into the crows nest to get a better idea of where everyone was. Up there he found a pair of thermal goggles. Climbing back down Snake went to the right, shooting a man in the neck with his tranq dart and snatching up a wet box before slipping inside and out of the rain.

The cold rain was not doing him any favors though as while pressed up against the wall waiting for a guard to look the other direction he suddenly sneezed, his hand coming up to cover his mouth and muffle as much of the sound as possible. The guard made a curious noise and his footsteps grew closer and more rapid. Snake made a risky move and darted across the hallway, managing to slip past the guard and over the railing for the stairs undetected. He landed hard on the staircase, three steps from the bottom and winced. He was in his feet and nothing was broken but it sure as fuck didn’t feel good. He shook it off and continued down the stairs.

A single guard patrolled the corridor in front of a security camera. Snake shot him in the back of the head with a tranquilizer dart and then used his USP to break the camera. After stuffing the guard into the supply closet by the stairs Snake moved forward through the hallway, climbing down the stairs into the crew quarters on the port side. Snake sprinted left and easily snuck right past the guard he took out on his way through here before, taking the curved stairs down to Deck-A’s lounge. Snake presaged himself into and alcove and waited, sprinting past while the guard’s back was turned and down the stairs. 

A crate of stun grenades were at the bottom of the stairs and Snake helped himself before taking a right and cautiously creeping down a poorly lit corridor. The room he stepped into was in disarray and there were smears of blood across the floor going into a locker. Snake popped it open and a man in a yellow suit- one of the men on the crew- fell forward out onto him. Snake caught him and shoved him back in the locker with a frown. Through the only doorway off of the room was a guard who Snake pointed his gun at the back of his head and fired once, catching the man before he could fall and alert his fellow guards. Snake dragged him through the doorway and stuffed him into the locker beside the dead man. Snake sneezed again and he muttered darkly. He hated colds.

He stepped out onto the catwalk and, following the beam of the guard across the way’s gun, sent him into a drug induced slumber as well. He took the stairs down and through a series of very careful drops he managed to get past all the guards and into the engine block undetected. A guard at the other end of the hall radioed to his superiors in Russian that the entranceway to the engine room was now repaired on the port side and was ordered to return to his regular patrol route. Snake ducked into a locker and waited while the man patrolled the stairwell, peeking out between the slats to watch. The guard went on his way and Snake stepped forward continue on only to freeze and narrow his eyes. Carefully he reached up and called Otacon.

“Otacon, there’s something on the wall here. Two black boxes. Infrared sensors?”

“Yes! Don’t move! They’re connected to-“

“Wait, let me guess. Semtex.”

“Exactly,” Otacon adjusted his glasses. “Plastic explosives.”

Snake remembered Olga’s conversation with her father, about how they were going to scuttle the ship after they’d retrieved Metal Gear. “So this is what they were talking about...”

“Looks like it.” Otacon clacked away at his keyboard. “Listen, be sure not to trip those sensors or-“

“Or I’ll be sleeping with the fishes along with the whole ship. Yeah I got it.” Snake looked around. “Looks like I’ll have to find another way around, there’re too many over here.”

“Wait a minute, there’s a way through. Do you see the things with blinking green lights right next to the explosives?” Snake squinted and made an affirmative grumble. “That’s the control unit for the sensors. Destroy that and you’ll be able to get in through. You won’t be able to get close enough to touch it so you’ll have to shoot them out. The M9’s knockout rounds won’t work but that USP you picked should do the trick.”

“Alright, thanks.” Snake grumbled as Otacon hung up. The first sensor was up high, too high to get an angle on it from the ground. Snake climbed on top of a crate and carefully aimed- he didn’t want to hit the explosives by accident- squeezing a round right into the light and deactivating the sensor. Then, he got down and hit the two on the floor before continuing down onto Deck-2.

The hallway was pitch black and Snake equipped the thermals he had picked up earlier, swiftly moving through the mostly deserted hallway. While he was moving, a crackle went through the intercom system and a man with a bored almost monotone voice said, “Verrazano Bridge checkpoint passed, all non-essential personal are to report to the cargo holds in 10 minutes time for the scheduled briefing session with the commandant. You are ordered to continue manning your posts until that time.”

Ten minutes. He had ten minutes until these halls filled with all the remaining marines onboard. Best use them wisely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter WILL be posted very very soon. Also- another special shout-out to my good friend Koobie for helping me through his writers block by sending me adorable doodles (like the one that is currently my icon) and giving me some much needed encouragement. She also has a MGS fic going that is super good and you should totally read it if you haven’t already because it’s cute as fuck.
> 
> Anyway don’t forget to leave a comment and a Kudos before you go, they really mean a lot to me and I read and respond to every single one.


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